Laketran Promotes Ben Capelle to General Manager

At the Monday, July 24th Laketran Board of Trustees meeting, the board unanimously voted to promote Ben Capelle as the Laketran General Manager starting Tuesday, August 1st. Capelle is currently the Deputy General Manager and oversees the daily operations and maintenance of Laketran’s three core services, Local Routes, commuter Park-n-Ride service to Cleveland, door-to-door Dial-a-Ride and ADA service that includes Medicaid and Lake County Board of DD contracts for the Dial-a-Ride service.

“We had a strong list of applicants nationwide to fill the position of General Manager,” shared board president Brian Falkowski, “We found Mr. Capelle’s experience, knowledge of Laketran and the Lake County community to be the best fit for the future of Laketran. Five years ago Ben hit the ground running with new ideas to improve our service delivery while cutting costs, as Laketran’s Operations Manager. I fully anticipate his momentum to continue and we will see many more accomplishments under his direction.”

Joining Laketran in 2012, Capelle led the implementation of many technology upgrades including Laketran’s GPS navigation and tracking, automatic bus locators, and online reservations for Dial-a-Ride. Capelle also spearheaded the transition to propane fuel for Laketran’s Dial-a-Ride bus fleet which will yield an annual 35 percent fuel savings for the agency. Capelle was promoted to Deputy General Manager in April 2016.

Prior to joining Laketran, Capelle served as the General Manager of Clermont Transportation Connection in Clermont County, Ohio. Under his direction at Clermont, Capelle improved ridership by an average of 23 percent per year. His statewide experience also includes working as a bus operator at Kent State University and The Ohio State University, where he graduated. He worked at First Transit located in Cincinnati prior to Clermont Transportation.

“I am honored to be chosen as the next General Manager of Laketran. This organization has tremendous impact on the residents of Lake County and I look forward to the opportunity to meet the growing transit demand while maintaining our customer-focused service delivery,” shared Capelle on his promotion.

Capelle will succeed Ray Jurkowski, who announced his retirement earlier this year and has served Laketran as General Manager since 2003.

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